Cary Fowler is a man with a mission. A mission that is about securing the foundation of nothing less than earth’s survival in the form of the world’s smallest currency: seeds!

The scientist and tireless idealist Fowler has set out to collect all existing grain types in an enormous ‘cereal bank’ on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean, before it’s too late. And too late it soon may be. The earth is overpopulated, there are more and more mouths to feed, and we are beginning to feel the disastrous effects of climate change on our planet.

In recent decades we have experienced periods of drought and severe floods, and together with these disasters we have lost important grain types, which means that they will be extinct within a few years. But nobody understands what devastating impact the extinction of these grain types would have on mankind. It is not just about the survival of this generation, but that of future generations.

The good news is that someone has started to do something about it! ‘Seeds of Time’ is simple in its style, but the story of Fowler’s struggle is both touching and inspiring.

Comments (2)

The world isn’t overpopulated.
At present the world grows enough food to feed 10 billion people.
What about all the deserts in the world.
For example the Sahara desert. It wouldn’t take much to line the coast
with desalters and pump fresh water into these lands.
What about hydroponics. We don’t even need land to grow our food.
One more step and go with aquaponics.

Meanwhile, there are few resources for the crucial in situ conservation of cultivated plant varieties in farmers’ fields and gardens around the world. The power invested in those with control of the centralised facility on Svalbard must be responsibly exercised, so stored germplasm is fairly and promptly delivered back to farmers who will need it most. Svalbard must not be a museum! When the permafrost melts, how will we fare? Make heroes of peasant farmers and seed-savers, if you must, but not Fowler.